scraped the popcorn off the ceiling, and tore through the paper-now what

So, I started scraping the popcorn off my ceiling last night. In a few hard to reach areas I tore the paper on the ceiling in a bunch of places.

I have a guy coming to texture the ceiling in a couple weeks and he mentioned that the texture doesn't stick to spots where there is no paper. How do I cover these paper-less spots on my ceiling so the texture will stick?

I suppose I could use joint compound/mud to cover the area and then sand/smooth it over?

any advice, tips, or experiences would be much appreciated. thanks in advance.

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If you tore the paper tape used by tapers to cover seams, you'll need to re-tape and "mud", or joint compound it
If you ripped the sheetrock "paper" and now it's fuzzy, or maybe even has the "rock" of the sheetrock showing, you'll need a specialty primer (like Zinsser's Gardz), then repair by filling in with joint compound (multiple layers of the "mud" if needed), sand smooth and re-prime with latex primer or leftover Gardz

If you tore the paper tape used by tapers to cover seams, you'll need to re-tape and "mud", or joint compound it
If you ripped the sheetrock "paper" and now it's fuzzy, or maybe even has the "rock" of the sheetrock showing, you'll need a specialty primer (like Zinsser's Gardz), then repair by filling in with joint compound (multiple layers of the "mud" if needed), sand smooth and re-prime with latex primer or leftover Gardz

Buy a roll of fiberglass mesh drywall tape and a quart of white wood glue.

Dilute some glue with enough water to make it into a paintable consistancy (or a little thicker).

Apply the self adhesive fiberglass mesh tape in strips over the areas of torn paper, and then paint those strips with the diluted glue. As the glue dries, it will bond the fiberglass mesh strips to the exposed gypsum and surrounding paper, thereby replacing the strength of the missing paper. Apply two layers of fiberglass mesh tape strips with the second layer perpendicular to the first layer. The texture should stick well to the dried glue and rough surface of the fiberglass mesh patch.

You don't need to know the rest:

Drywall gets it's strength from the paper. Paper is very strong in tension. Try tearing a piece of paper in half WITHOUT starting with a small tear at an outside edge. Instead, fold the paper up and try pulling it apart, and you'll see how strong the stuff actually is for it's very small cross sectional area.

The way drywall works is that by having a layer of paper on each side of a gypsum core, the only way that drywall can bend is if the paper on either side stretches. Since paper is very strong in tension, it won't stretch easily, and so drywall is quite rigid even though everything it's made from is weak. In fact, you have to use very thin drywall (1/4 inch thick) so that there's not much tension in the paper before you can actually bend drywall any significant amount.

That's why it can be important to replace any paper you remove with fiberglass mesh, and not just cover the missing paper with joint compound or a primer. Both will look good, but neither will restore the strength of the missing paper like the glued on fiberglass mesh will.

Reinforcing rods in concrete perform much the same function as paper in drywall. Concrete is weak in tension. If you try to bend a concrete slab, you'll find it's not too hard to break it. However, if you embed steel bars near the top and bottom of that slab, now those steel bars have to stretch before the concrete bends. Since steel is very strong in tension, "reinforced concrete" as it is called, is much stronger in tension and bending than concrete without that rebar in it.

Ya gotta know this stuff to get your DIY merit badge in this boyscout troop.

Thanks Nestor and Slickshift. Slickshift's answer was kinda what I was expecting--that seems to be what I found searching the interweb. But I was looking for an easier and less time consuming way to do it.

Nestor, I think I understand what you're saying.
1. remove the shreds of paper and "fuzzies." No gypsum is actually showing...just the cardboard looking like layer directly underneath the paper.
2. apply two strips of tape
3. apply diluted glue.

Is that it? When I get the ceiling textured, will the tape show through the texturing? Do I need to sand or apply mud and then sand?
thanks in advance.
Chap

No.
1. Apply the fiberglass mesh strips going in one direction
2. Paint over them with diluted white wood glue, and allow it to dry
3. Apply the second layer of fiberglass mesh strips perpendicular to the first layer
4. Paint over them with diluted white wood glue, and allow it to dry.

The tape will never show under the texture.

You can just about texture over a dead animal and not have it show.

If you were wanting to repair a smooth ceiling, then I would mud over that patch and sand smooth. The tape is very thin, and you should have no trouble plastering over two (or even four) laters of the stuff without it showing on a smooth wall or ceiling. I would just go ahead and apply texture right over the fiberglass mesh tape.